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LIGHT + CURRENT
Siemens celebrates SA’s new engineers and technicians
Siemens commits to training South Afri-
cans as part of its contracts for work on SA
power stations and other infrastructure.
Special attention is given to local commu-
nities, women and people with economic
and educational disadvantages. Under
government’s national Accelerated and
Shared Growth Initiative (ASGI-SA) scheme,
Siemens trains engineers, electrical tech-
nicians and artisans. The ASGI-SA Skills
Development Programme is a partnership
training programme between Siemens and
Eskom. Skills development programmes
are project specific and they are linked to
Eskom power stations, including Kusile,
Medupi, Duvha, Ingula and Hendrina.
On Friday, 12 February, more than sixty
newly-skilled men and women celebrated
their graduation with engineering degrees,
diplomas, trade certificates and national
certificates. They will now enter the SA
economy with confidence and skills to build
careers in engineering.
One of the new Siemens graduates is
Jaquolyn Mononyane, 26, who comes from
Ekangala inMpumalanga. She matriculated
in 2008 and did electrical engineering at the
Tshwane University of Technology (TUT).
Now Jaquolyn is on a further two-year
Siemens graduate training programme and
studying for a BTech in electrical engineer-
ing. As part of her training, she has been to
work on the Sere wind farm in theWestern
Cape. In 2015 Jaquolyn became the first
female supervisor at Siemens’ North Rid-
ing facility. She is currently a supervisor
in the facility’s medium voltage division, a
job which was previously done by a skilled
German worker.
Lloyd Dlamini, 27, started as a trainee
and is now a Siemens’ training mentor.
He comes from the Bushbuck Ridge area
in Mpumalanga and matriculated in 2006.
Lloyd was studying electrical and electronic
engineering at TUT when he met visiting
Siemens recruiters, and in July 2010 he
joined a Siemens facility in Centurion to
complete his practical training. By the time
he finished studying he already had a job
offer with Siemens, and he started as an
engineering technician in the testing depart-
ment in 2011. In July 2014 he was appointed
manufacturing qualitymanager at Siemens’
North Riding facility.
Siemens’ new graduates include two en-
gineers with a BSc in Electrical Engineering,
two project managers, 25 technicians with a
national diploma in electrical engineering,
27 artisans with a higher certificate, and
nine candidates with learnership certificates
NQF Level 3-4.
Enquiries: Keshin Govender
Tel. 27(0)11 652-2000 or email
Fighting energy poverty
The European Policy Centre, with the support of the King Bau-
douin Foundation, and Schneider Electric has launched the Energy
Poverty Task Force to consider energy poverty challenges in the
European Union.
Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management
and automation, and the European Policy Centre, an independent,
not-for-profit think tank with the support of the King Baudouin
Foundation, announce the launch of the Energy PovertyTask Force
to consider energy poverty challenges in the European Union.
The launch event of the task force took place on 26 January, 2016
in Brussels, in presence of Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President of the
European Commission in charge of energy.
Energy poverty affects people in mature economies who do not
have normal and regular access to the energy necessary to cover
their basic domestic needs, i.e. heating, power and cooking.This is
caused by a combination of low incomes, higher electricity prices
and poor building energy performance. According to the French
National Energy Poverty Monitor (Observatoire National de la
Précarité Energétique, or ONPE), energy poverty affects nearly 20%
of the French population. Fight against energy poverty in mature
economies is today amajor development issue, as access to energy
in developing countries. It needs to improve people’s day-to-day
lives while offering concrete solutions to tackle climate change.
As a socially responsible company and a global specialist in
energy management, Schneider Electric launched in 2013 its pro-
gramme to fight energy poverty in mature economies.The Group
wants to foster the emergence of a virtuous circle by focusing on
three areas: education, investment and technology. Schneider
Electric is now seeking how to be most effective in its actions.That’s
why the Group partnered with the European Policy Centre in the
Energy PovertyTask Force, to consider energy poverty at European
level. End of 2015, Schneider Electric had already published aWhite
Paper Resolving Energy Poverty in Europe: Understanding the
Initiatives and Solutions.
Enquiries: Email
Clifford Klaas, Siemens Executive Director and Head of Human Resources for Siemens in
Southern and East Africa, Nake Maepa, Eskom, and Thandeka Mnisi, professional technician
at Siemens, receiving her National Diploma in Electrical Engineering and her BTech.
Electricity+Control March ‘16 52